When were Leicester City last relegated? What happened to the Foxes - and path back to the Premier League

Leicester City are facing the prospect of relegation to the second tier of English football and manager Dean Smith and assistant coaches John Terry and Craig Shakespeare are facing the task of avoiding the drop this season.

The Foxes have been one of the league’s biggest underachievers and very few football experts would have envisioned the likes of James Maddison, Jamie Vardy and Harvey Barnes being involved in a relegation battle.

In recent years Leicester have enjoyed great success in the top-flight - they were crowned Premier League champions in 2016, they lifted the FA Cup in 2021 and they even recorded back to back fifth place finishes just two seasons ago under former manager Brendan Rodgers.

But when were Leicester City last relegated from the top-flight and when did they last win promotion?

Here is everything you need to know.

When were Leicester City last relegated from the Premier League?

Leicester City face the prospect of being relegated from the Premier League for the first time in 19 years.

The Foxes last suffered relegation from the top-flight during the 2003/04 campaign when they were managed by Micky Adams.

Leicester had an experienced team at the time which featured the likes of Frank Sinclair, Paul Dickov, Ian Walker, Keith Gillespie and the team’s top scorer that season, Les Ferdinand.

Leicester recorded a total of 33 points and they only managed to win six of their 38 games over the course of the campaign. Their achilles heel proved to be their failure to convert wins into draws and they drew 15 top-flight matches over the course of the campaign.

The Foxes were relegated alongside Leeds United and Wolves in a season which also saw Arsenal pick up their last Premier League title under Arsene Wenger.

Path back to the Premier League

Leicester City’s relegation in 2004 was their third in the Premier League era and many fans hoped for an immediate return to the top-flight as they had done after both of their previous two relegations.

However, Leicester struggled to adjust to life in the second tier of English football and they were relegated to the third tier for the first time in their history just four years later in 2007/08 in a turbulent season which saw Martin Allen, Gary Megson and Ian Holloway all take their place in the managerial dugout.

Leicester’s relegation to the third tier sparked an upturn in fortune for The Foxes and Nigel Pearson won an immediate promotion back into the top-flight in 2008/09.

The club further benefited from the takeover of the Srivaddhanaprabha family in 2010 and after several failed promotion attempts through the play-offs they clinched the Championship title in the 2013/14 campaign.

Leicester miraculously avoided the drop after a dismal start to the season in 2014/15 and since then they have finished in the top half of the Premier League every season in six of their next seven seasons.

The highlight proved to be a shock title win in the 2015/16 campaign when they were given odds of 5000/1 by the bookmakers.

Can Leicester survive in the Premier League?

Leicester City face a huge uphill battle to survive in the Premier League and they are two points behind relegation rivals Everton.

The Foxes shipped five goals during an eight goal thriller against Fulham in their last match and they are tasked with stopping a Liverpool team who have won all of their last six top-flight games.

Dean Smith does have experience of a last-day of the season escape with Aston Villa in 2020 and he will be hoping to repeat the achievement in the final two games against Newcastle United and West Ham.

Leicester have a talented team with players capable of scoring goals such as Harvey Barnes, James Maddison and Jamie Vardy and they will have a key part to play if Leicester are to avoid the drop.